"circular firing squad" meaning in English

See circular firing squad in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Noun

Audio: en-au-circular firing squad.ogg Forms: circular firing squads [plural]
Head templates: {{en-noun|head=circular firing squad}} circular firing squad (plural circular firing squads)
  1. (idiomatic) A political party or other group experiencing considerable disarray because the members are engaging in internal disputes and mutual recrimination. Tags: idiomatic Related terms: finger-pointing, infighting, Mexican standoff Translations (group in the state of infighting): käärmeenpesä (Finnish)

Inflected forms

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          "ref": "1992 March 26, Michael deCourcy Hinds, “Capitol Hill Memo: After Scandals, the Hush of Paranoia”, in New York Times, retrieved 2009-05-22:",
          "text": "\"What we're seeing here is a kind of circular firing squad, with everybody standing in a circle pointing fingers at the person beside them,\" said Representative Robert S. Walker of Pennsylvania, the chief deputy Republican whip.",
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          "ref": "1997 October 9, Anthony Bevins, “The Tories: MPs get the blame for May election defeat”, in The Independent, UK, retrieved 2009-05-22:",
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          "ref": "2002 January 28, Michael Duffy et al., “What Did They Know And...When Did They Know It?”, in Time:",
          "text": "[J]ust about everyone who helped create this mess is busy pointing fingers, scapegoating the other guys, firing the lower-downs and diming out the higher-ups. Last week what was once envisioned as a new kind of company resembled little more than a circular firing squad of executives, accountants, consultants and lawyers.",
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        "(idiomatic) A political party or other group experiencing considerable disarray because the members are engaging in internal disputes and mutual recrimination."
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          "sense": "group in the state of infighting",
          "word": "käärmeenpesä"
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          "text": "[J]ust about everyone who helped create this mess is busy pointing fingers, scapegoating the other guys, firing the lower-downs and diming out the higher-ups. Last week what was once envisioned as a new kind of company resembled little more than a circular firing squad of executives, accountants, consultants and lawyers.",
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      "lang": "Finnish",
      "sense": "group in the state of infighting",
      "word": "käärmeenpesä"
    }
  ],
  "word": "circular firing squad"
}

Download raw JSONL data for circular firing squad meaning in English (2.8kB)


This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-12-21 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-12-04 using wiktextract (d8cb2f3 and 4e554ae). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

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